^^We keep ours slightly away from the foundation. Brown premium mulch FTW.

Also, don't mulch up to tree trunks.

We also have a couple of beds that we've traditionally gone with pine needles. I went to buy some at Lowes this year, and they wanted 4.25/bale. Holy crap that's expensive. Wonder why the cost went up, guess we're going through a low supply.

5/22/2017 10:07:09 AM

Quote :

"Need to replace a float switch on my attic AC unit. Does Home Depot/Lowes sell them or some other place local to Raleigh?"

Order an EZ Trap off Amazon.
e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Rectorseal-83230-EZ-Trap-230/dp/B00L7XXK7Y/

How do you know you need to replace it? Did it not cut the unit off when it was supposed to?

5/23/2017 2:13:15 PM

Sump pump is acting up again. This time the float switch seems to have died. The backup pump/switch is working (thankfully, otherwise we'd have flooded with all this rain since I didn't notice right away) but the water gets worryingly close to the top of the well before it kicks in. Like an inch or so close. Its digital float only has a 6" range so it doesn't even drain all that much out, though it keeps it from overflowing at least.

If I manually cycle the primary, it drains the well like it should, but even though it's not rained yet today the well fills back up in less than an hour.

[Edited on May 28, 2017 at 7:34 PM. Reason : x]

5/28/2017 7:32:53 PM

half woe/half humblebrag, but spent a fortune on a master bath down-to-the-studs remodel a few months back and the contractor finally posted some photos

https://www.houzz.com/projects/2266124/vintage-master-bath

5/31/2017 9:52:53 AM

That looks great! I love the chandelier.

We put our house on the market last Friday, and got a full price offer Tuesday. So needless to say we were ecstatic. I got a call from our agent today to notify us that they have pulled the offer, which really sucks. So if anyone is looking for a beautiful house near downtown at a great value, give me a holler.

6/8/2017 11:16:29 AM

Just got my flooring done...finally. Got Shaw 12mm laminate via Costco installed by Carolina In Home Flooring. Process was fairly smooth and it looks great. This is the product - https://shawfloors.scene7.com/is/image/ShawIndustries/SL300_00878_ROOM?fmt=Jpeg&qlt=60&wid=1000

How do you guys keep your hardwood/laminate clean? I was looking at stick vacuums so if anyone has a recommendation there that isn't a Dyson lemme know Then mop or swiffer for deeper cleanings?

6/8/2017 4:11:48 PM

Broom and swiffer

6/8/2017 8:36:47 PM

^^ looks good...pricing?

6/9/2017 11:46:48 AM

^^^ i use my regular vacuum with the brush turned off and it on the lowest height setting (we still have carpet in other parts). after that a real mop and floor cleaner, the wet swiffer thing was a waste of money. i used to use dry swiffers but now i just use a dust mop and the mop head gets washed every now and then. i always ran out of the swiffers when i needed one, the regular mops are just easier.

6/12/2017 1:17:31 PM

there's this shark duo thing I'm looking to try out

6/12/2017 1:57:56 PM

Who wants to sell your house??? Get rid of all the woes!! Sell it today!

6/12/2017 2:10:35 PM

Need a roofer rec to secure a few shingles that were never nailed down and maybe replace a vent.
Need a drywall rec to replace the drywall in my closet ceiling.

6/12/2017 4:36:44 PM

https://www.facebook.com/allaroundnc/

6/13/2017 12:33:28 AM

Thx. Unrelated, my house got broken into (on my birthday) so I'm going all out with a security system, outdoor lights with motions sensors + night vision, and smart lights that all integrate with my nest thermostat + geofencing with ifttt.

6/14/2017 9:41:34 PM

GOD DAMNIT!! I need drawer sliders for 1 fucking cabinet, I bought the wrong ones at home depot, and now that I'm doing research, there are 450 different types of these things. There's bottom mount (which are ironically mounted on the SIDE of the drawer) and CONCEALED sliders which are mounted on the bottom... Fuck you drawer slider people... fuck you!

6/19/2017 3:13:16 PM

Has anyone used a fly trap inside that works? Those strips are messy and don't seem to work...even those sticks where you place an attractant in a circle around it at the base don't seem to work. Any other ideas?

Quote :

" looks good...pricing?"

After getting ~$650 back from Costco in the form of a Costco gift card, I think it was around $6/sq ft installed. That's out the door pricing for all materials and products. Sounds high, but it was the lowest quote I got, it's a great product, and the install job was flawless.

How much does installed hardwood usually run per sq ft?

6/28/2017 1:07:41 PM

the "2 liter bottle" trick works, as does the "saran wrap on a cup with holes poked in it" trick.

6/28/2017 4:03:59 PM

I'll second the 2 liter bottle thing.

6/28/2017 7:10:44 PM

As it turns out, our Lake Gaston house has a radon problem. Was reading over 20 PiCu/L over several weeks. The local bozos wanted $1500 to do the work, which I thought was ridiculous for what I consider low skill labor and $500 in parts. Did it myself and I am now below 1 PiCu/L. Suck it overcharging assholes!!

7/5/2017 12:05:25 PM

Damn nice. Did you just duct the basement/crawl space to the outside or what?

7/5/2017 6:50:46 PM

Had to do some drywall patching on the ceiling after some small repairs. Took forever but I got the texture to match up. Now I'm having a hell of a time trying to find the paint color that matches the rest of the ceiling without having to paint the whole damn thing .

7/10/2017 10:51:29 AM

you won't. I got the same exact paint and you can see a huge difference. One because batches, and also because spray vs roller application. I just repaint the whole damn thing.

(well, that's assuming a newly painted ceiling; a someone recently repainted ceiling is easier to match; a long ao painted ceiling can be very difficult. and matching roll / brush to spray is a challenge).

[Edited on July 14, 2017 at 1:39 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on July 14, 2017 at 1:41 PM. Reason : .]

7/14/2017 1:38:08 PM

Arg, big problem is that the same ceiling is connected to three rooms. That is a lot of painting. I think part of the reason it is impossible to match the paint is that there is A) however many years of the original paint fading and B) however many years of cooking leaving deposits of smoke/etc on the ceiling since it is close to the kitchen.

7/17/2017 11:10:07 AM

how are the rooms connected? completely open? hall? the middle ground is just to repaint the one room

7/17/2017 2:04:06 PM

Completely open kitchen, dining area, and living room. All have the same uninterrupted ceiling. I do have some old paint that the previous owners left behind. Last time I checked it was still good, maybe of of the cans is the same color of white they used on the ceiling originally. It will never be the exact same shade but it might at least be close enough to where it isn't as noticeable. I've noticed a few things like that in various other houses I've seen that I probably would not have noticed if I otherwise weren't looking.

7/18/2017 10:00:35 AM

don't use the original paint formula, get a piece of the existing ceiling and go match it

7/20/2017 12:43:32 PM

So that day has come... Time for a new A/C unit. It was 90 degrees upstairs on Tuesday, and while the immediate cause was a bad capacitor, the refrigerant leak which had been gradual has gotten much worse. Down 2 lbs. In less than 2 months. Leak is in the middle of the coil in the air handler. They could just replace the coil for $2k but that isn't worth it on a 12 year old system.

Basically trying to sanity check the replacement price. The quote is for an Amana, 1.5 ton 15 SEER, with 10 year parts and labor warranty. $6000 installed. I know the company isn't the cheapest in town but they also have a very good reputation, just want to make sure that price sounds reasonable.

7/20/2017 1:00:59 PM

Did they already replace the cap or are you sitting at home sweating? $6k seems hefty and might have been their "let's make a quick sale on this dude since his house is hot as shit" price. I'd get at least one more price if not two, if you can handle the wait.

7/20/2017 1:56:21 PM

They did, but will credit what we spent against the new unit (which is a consideration, we should have declined having any work done until we decided). They also quoted a Carrier system for $500 less but it's only 1 year labor as opposed to 10.

7/20/2017 3:44:44 PM

^^^Almost exact same thing happened to me in 2014. System was 11 years old and couldn't keep up with the summer sun. It wasn't quite as bad as yours-- best it could do was keep the house at about 85 in the day and comfortable at night, but it was still running non-stop. Local guy checked it out and said one of the coils was busted and would cost $2k to fix. Ended up replacing the whole unit and got a 1.5 ton Daikin for $6k. Came with 10 year warranty that doesn't include the annual maintenance/checkups, but they haven't charged me for those once and they've come out three separate times for it. It sucks that it costs that much, but the new unit works great.

7/21/2017 10:44:31 AM

Same thing happened to me a few years back. The best thing I did was order a $500 portable ac unit from Amazon with next day delivery. Seems ghetto, but kept prego wife from killing me, I didn't have to rush the $6k purchase decision, and I still use the thing all the time. (garage and failures on other floors)

7/21/2017 12:08:00 PM

$6K is high for a 1.5 ton unit.

7/21/2017 12:29:20 PM

like 2x high

7/21/2017 4:48:03 PM

Update from a few pages back if anyone cares. After two offers falling through, we finally closed on selling our house today! We move into our new house August 15.

7/21/2017 4:53:50 PM

The goddamn HVAC went out (compressor)

Anyone do HVAC work on here? CalledToArms

7/23/2017 2:37:59 AM

^^congratulations.

I'm tempted to sell and move elsewhere, but don't want to bite that bullet. Home prices in my area jumped about $50k over the last year. The contractor in my neighborhood is giving up on finishing out the development and is trying to sell off the remaining land, which scares me. And if I move, I'd hope to really cut down on my commute time, but that puts me generally in west Raleigh / east Cary and none of that area is all that affordable (other than rough areas) unless I get a cookie-cutter 1/4 acre house, yuck.

7/24/2017 7:42:54 AM

Fuuuuuuuuck I caught the AC AIDS from this thread. The AC unit for the upstairs seems to have kicked it. I'm hoping it just needs a little rest after the struggle of the hot ass weekend, but I'm pretty sure that's not how these things work.

7/24/2017 5:56:46 PM

Quote :

"I'll second the 2 liter bottle thing."

I was super excited about this and built it to spec per youtube. It's been three dang hot days and I haven't caught one fly yet! The people on youtube looked like they caught every fly in a two-mile radius. Maybe my meat/tomato concoction isn't enticing enough for my local flies. Anyone have any tips?

7/26/2017 5:42:22 PM

^^ There's usually things they can do to push off a replacement. One of ours has kinda crapped itself twice, and we've gotten through 2 more summers with temporary fixes. We're getting a new unit in November (18 SEER Bosch for like $6,400) but we'll make it through the summer.

7/27/2017 9:41:28 AM

Surprisingly, after a night of rest and a new air filter, it came back to life! The downstairs unit was replaced in 2012, but I believe this upstairs unit is original to the house (1999-2000), so I'm sure it'll need some work sometime soon, but if I can get a few more years out of it I'll be happy.

7/27/2017 10:27:14 AM

has anyone bought land in the area? i need recommendations for a land broker.

7/27/2017 2:44:55 PM

^^ Did you check the condenser coils? If they were frozen over it could point to a leak in the system...or you could just need to clean them.

7/31/2017 9:26:50 AM

Quote :

"Update from a few pages back if anyone cares. After two offers falling through, we finally closed on selling our house today! We move into our new house August 15. "

Congrats! How long was your house on the market for?

We have had 2 offers fall through (so far) with no end in sight. After 35+ showings, I am ready for this to be over. Doesnt anyone want a great value downtown?

[Edited on August 8, 2017 at 9:53 PM. Reason : 1]

8/8/2017 9:52:50 PM

We listed in November (biggest mistake)
Had a full price offer in February that was withdrawn before we got to sign
Went under contract in February and moved most of our stuff out
Buyer's sale fell through and backed out Mar 6
Back on market and dropped price $5k
Took off market for about 30 days and relisted on May 11
Went under contract two weeks later and closed on July 21

We probably had about 60 showings total

8/9/2017 4:04:00 PM

Brutal. I thought our area was supposed to be hot shit.

Did you move back in after your second buyer fell through. As awful a this has been, thats my biggest nightmare.

8/9/2017 9:39:03 PM

We never moved completely out but we were getting ready to. The whole family slept on mattresses on the floor for 4 months with most of the big furniture out.

In the end, it worked out great because we only ended up living with my in-laws for about a month and half versus 6 months while our house was finishing being built. They are fine to live with but it's up in Henderson and is an older house with a tiny bathroom for my wife and I to share with two small kids.

As for the market, we were located just a few miles from downtown Youngsville but our address was Franklinton. I think that hurt us a lot because we probably got filtered out of many searches based solely on town name.

[Edited on August 10, 2017 at 11:14 AM. Reason : .]

8/10/2017 11:13:14 AM

Quote :

"goddamn leaky chimney....I can't find the source of the leak!!! argh!!!!"

I used the dude Str8BacardiL recommended. Things went better than expected. Thx Str8BL!

https://www.facebook.com/allaroundnc/

8/10/2017 5:02:58 PM

came home and cut the grass. damn weedeater wouldn't start. i think it's time for a new carburetor.

came inside to find the upstairs AC unit quit cooling.

and then found that the freezer door got stuck barely cracked open, so i had to defrost it.



[Edited on August 14, 2017 at 10:06 PM. Reason : n]

8/14/2017 10:06:13 PM

Damn, what's up with the AC?

I had to drop $1K on my AC control board in my old house the WEEK BEFORE I was set to close on it (to sell it). SUCCCCCCKED.

8/15/2017 8:36:37 PM

capacitor

did you look into changing the board yourself? you can buy that stuff online and it's usually plug and play. the prices hvac companies charge is ridiculous.

[Edited on August 15, 2017 at 10:13 PM. Reason : df]

[Edited on August 15, 2017 at 10:14 PM. Reason : new carb didn't fix weedeater. thinking it's the coil, but i haven't been able to check for spark.]

8/15/2017 10:11:14 PM